The Other Kind of Strange
by sonja53332
Summary: After Chloes death, Max got lots of help from her friends, espacially Warren. But there is something that she doesn't know about him, but it made her loving him even more. I'm not a native speaker, but I did my best! I do not own any characters, there belong to the wonderful game! Warning: May contain smut and many cheesy scenes;)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Maxs POV

Max sighed while she looked at herself trough the mirror. It´s been almost three months since she chose Arcadia Bay instead of Chloe and she still feels guilty about it. But she couldn´t let them all die, right? All these people, who had been there for her: Kate, Alyssa and even Brooke tried to make a new start with her. And of course there was Warren. Warren with his smile and his incredible odd ways to make her laugh..."If you are not out here in 10 seconds, I swear I will scream through the whole dorm, that Max Caulfield is shy and...", „Ok, ok, I´m here and everybody already knows that I´m shy", interrupted Max Kate´s threat. „Nice", said Kate, „you look like always: Sweater, Jeans and a normal Tshirt". She smiled and started to go down the floor to the exit door. „Will you come with me shy girl or not?", she asked above her right shoulder. „Coming", answered Max. Does she really looked this boring? She never really thought much about her way to dress but when she compares her style to Chloe´s...well Chloe was a different kind. Max smiled by the thought of Chloe´s blue hair and her messy and sometimes scary T-Shirts.

Anyway Chloe was dead and life has to go on. Max tried to clear her head and hurried up to go out of their dorm with Kate.

It was nice weather outside and Max saw Samuel feeding the birds on a bench in the sun. The light was perfect and she took her camera out to take a quick picture. „That´s why Warren is into you so much", said Kate behind her trying to get a look at the picture Max took. „What do you mean?", asked Max turning to face Kate. „Mhh well you do see things. You capture the moment and you´re so passionate about things you love. I mean..uhm..you saved me when nobody seemed to care for me", explained Kate and shrugged her shoulders. „Oh Kate", Max cried, „I´m so glad I helped you and you´re here with me now." „Yeah I´m glad too, Max. Now let´s go to the Parking Lot, you don´t want to let you´re cute Warren wait right?", she smiled, „He´s not..", but before Max could finished her sentence, Kate turned around and headed to the Parking lot. Max hurried after her.

When they came to the Parking Lot, they saw Warren at the other side standing beside his car, waving. Suddenly Max got a little bit nervous. „Are you ok?", asked Kate, who always seemed to notice when someone´s mood was changing. „Ehm...yeah but about what you said earlier: do you really think, he likes me that much?", Max asked, looking to the gray asphalt at the street. „Hey, Max, you don´t have to be nervous! This Day will be nice, I promise you. You really deserve to have some fun and just relax. After all of this with Chloe...you have to go and smile a bit, God doesn´t give you Life to throw it away. Let this tell you by someone who has to know." Max smiled by Kate's mention of God, she really believes in all this stuff. „So there is the smile we need, lets go", Kate said and waved back to Warren. She´s right, Max thought, this is the first time I´m doing something since all of this shit, and I think Chloe would wanted me to party and life my life. She waved back to Warren and started to go to him, Kate right behind her.

„Hey Warren, so where do we go?", Max asked while hugging him tightly, Damn he smelled good...did you really just thought that Max? „Well, that´s a surprise Max but I´m sure you will like it.", grinned Warren. „Come get in the car, we´ll meet the others there." Kate just smiled about the two and jumped in the back of the car. Max opened the front door and sat down, still wondering where Warren was going to bring her and Kate. She turned around to Kate: „So.. you already know where we´re going to right?", „Right,",Kate answered ,„but I´m also not going to tell you, it´s a surprise!" „Just relax", Warren said and started the car. That´s easy to say if you already know where we´re going to, thought Max but didn´t say anything. She wanted to enjoy this time with her friends so she just leaned back and listened to the radio Warren had turned on.

„Hey, Wake up Max, we´re there!". Max opened her eyes and looked in a pair of puppy brown eyes. „Warren! You scared me!". But Warren just laughed and said: „Come on, lets go meet the others.". Max rubbed her eyes and got out of the car. She looked around. „So...we are...wait are we in Seattle?", Max screamed. „But...we are not going to see my parents, are we?" continued Max. She didn´t want to go to her parents. After this thing with Chloe they didn´t understand why she was so sad and she didn´t know what to say to make them understand so she just stayed at Arcadia Bay. „No, we are not here to see your parents.", explained Warren and Max sighed. „Then what are we doing here?", asked Max. „You will see in a couple of minutes, but first, close your eyes and I will guide you." Max did so and the two of them started to go. They went upstairs and through a door. Max thought it must be a hall or something because she could hear the sound of many talking people. „Okay now...you can open you´re eyes." Max opened her eyes and she couldn´t believed what she saw. „You gotta be kidding me." Right before her was a big picture of the selfie she made in front of her photo wall. She looked around and saw other pictures and a bunch of people looking on them. It reminded her of the alternate reality, where she went to the Every Day Hero Contest with Principal Wells. „Ehm...", Warren started but Kate interrupted him: „You looked so down and sad the past few months and we thought maybe we could do something for you. I went to this exhibition last year with my bible group, it´s all about Polaroid photos and cameras. Well...I know you don´t like to share your work and you don´t like to be in the middle of everyone's attention but we thought it might be a good idea to send a picture of you in and...voila they loved it." „We just wanted you to know that we all like you´re work and you´re an amazing photographer, you just have to be confident with yourself.", followed Alyssa. Warren just smiled and nodded. Max didn´t know what to say. This was so...incredible...a photo, which she took, at an exhibition about the photograph style she liked the most. She couldn´t help but grinning. „That´s so nice from all of you, thank you so much! I know, I haven´t been a very good friend the last months but I promise I´ll do better." She hugged Kate, Alyssa and Warren and before she could think about it, she gave Warren a kiss on the cheek. He blushed immediately, mumbled something about food and walked away. Alyssa said she wanted to see the other photos and walked away to. „I will leave you alone with you´re picture. You can be proud of yourself Max. I will be talking to someone i noticed over there if you want to find me.", said Kate and went away. Now Max was alone with her picture, with her photos and her thoughts. She thought about the alternate reality where she won the Contest and then about the call from Chloe and the storm...and the dark room...Shit, you have to go on!, she said herself, Stop thinking about anything, that you can´t change anymore. You decided to choose Arcadia Bay and that´s okay. Now enjoy this and enjoy the time with you´re friends, who did all of this for you Max Caulfield!. „Max Caulfield?". She turned around to see who asked this. „I´m over here." It was a small but imperious looking woman in a business costume. The woman stepped beside her and began to speak again: „ I´m Pauline Maysen, I´m from the Seattle Photography Institute, which is giving this exhibition. We wanted to thank you for sending us you´re picture, you´re very talented.", explained the woman. Max blushed after this compliment and ran her fingers through her hair. „Ehm...thank you very much." „Anyway, enjoy you´re stay and here´s our official card; you can call us if you maybe looking for an internship? It would be nice to have some actually talented people here." Mrs Maysen smiled one last time, gave the card to Max and rushed away. Max´s mood got way better after this talk and she really enjoyed looking at all this perfect photographs. Way too fast (too long for Warren, who doesn´t seem to be so much interested in all these Photographs) they had to drive back to Arcadia Bay.

It was dark when they finally arrived and Alyssa quickly got out of the car and excused herself by saying she will have to get up early the next morning. Kate hugged Max and whispered something like „Have fun, you deserve it.", before she also went to her dorm. So there where only Max and Warren left, alone at the Parking Lot. „Well...uhm...I hope you liked the day and everything...", Warren stuttered, running through his brown hair. He´s so sweet when he does this and when he´s so shy, Max thought. „I loved it", she answered and smiled. „See there´s my MadMax again! Ehm I mean our MadMax", he corrected himself. „It´s okay, because you gave me this nickname, I´m your MadMax and I like it.", said Max. Warren just smiled. „Warren...", started Max, „I wanted to thank you for...for always being there for me, I know I wasn´t easy the last few months but you helped me, a lot." Warren blushed again and looked on the ground. „Well Max there´s something..." „I know Warren, I know." „Of course you do, Supermax!" She smiled about this sentence she already heard once from him and suddenly she thought about that kiss...it felt so nice...she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek again.. „Good Night Warren" „Good night Max" She hugged Warren and went to her dorm to finally go to sleep and think about this best day since...well since Chloe wasn´t there anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Max´s POV

She jumped out of the bus and saw the Two Whales diner in front of her. She quickly ran to it and opened the door. But the moment she got into the diner everything changed and the diner looked like it was during the storm. Except the fact that nobody was here. But she could hear the screams from outside. As she went outside the scenery changed again and she was standing on the roof in the rain. Kate stood in front of her, waved and before she could do anything Kate fell from the rooftop. Suddenly the scenery changed again and she stood at the cemetery next to an open coffin. Chloe sat up in it, looked at her and said „You let me die, you little bitch.", over and over again.

She woke up, Chloes voice still ringing in her head. Man, this has to stop! Max had these nightmares since the day Chloe died. It was four o clock in the morning...shit! She decided to go out a little bit, maybe she could sleep after a walk outside.

She was hit by the cold air outside and she quickly closed her jacket. She looked up in the sky and recognized that there was a full moon...maybe I couldn´t sleep because of the full moon? Thought Max but she knew really well that she had this dreams not only this night. Max decided to go to the totem pole at the opposite site of the dorm, she didn´t want to get caught because she tried to pass the building where Principal Wells was living.

She was nearly at the Totem pole, when she saw someone sitting there with one´s back to the pole. Before she could go away, because she didn´t want to disturb the person, she was stopped by a voice: „Hey, Max. You can come to me, it´s ok." Warren? What was he doing here? Alone? „Uhm...I didn´t want to.." „No it´s ok, actually I´m glad you´re here, sit down Max, please." said Warren and turned his face to her. He must have been crying, Max thought. His face was wet, she could see it in the moonlight. „Ok" Max said and sat down next to Warren. „You couldn´t sleep hum?" Warren asked, wiping his face with his sleeve. „No not really. I´ve..." Why not saying it? Warren was always there for her, maybe he could help her..."I´ve had a bad dream. Chloe was in there." Warren nodded, „Yeah I figured something like that. But you know, it will getting better. I´ll promise." Max felt tears rising behind her eyes. „I know Warren, but it still hurts so much." She didn´t want to cry again, she felt like she had cried the last few months...She breathed deeply and looked to the sky. „Warren?" „Mhhh?" „Why are you here? Alone in the night? Do you also couldn´t sleep?" she asked. „Max, there´s something you don´t know about me. Well...there´s something nobody knows about me exactly.", he began. „I...I didn´t want everybody to know." „Well you don´t have to tell me of course." interrupted Max. „No that´s not the thing, I want to tell you." continued Warren. „But it´s complicated, where do I start?" „Warren", said Max and took both of his hands in her´s. „I´m here and I´m listening. After all that you´ve done for me. I want to listen." Warren smiled weakly to her and looked back to the sky. „Well...a few years ago, I was in high school and had nothing in mind except where to go to college and girls.", he gasped because of this thought and continued talking: „We we´re like the perfect family: my dad, Mum and me. But then...my...my dad got really sick. I mean really sick Max, this kind of sick where you hope a miracle will come. My Mom just gave up. She said we have to except that Dad was going away from us and we have to prey, but I...I couldn´t believe that. I searched the whole internet. This was where I became obsessed with science because I was searching for a cure, a medicine, anything. I..didn´t visit my father often in this time, I was too obsessed searching for an answer. He...he died while I was in the library looking for a book about his disease. Max, I wasn´t with him when he died, because I was to weak to accept the fact that he was going to die and I will never forgive me for that." Warren started to cry again and he hugged his knees. Max couldn´t believe what he just said. It was so awful and so sad...She could hardly stand seeing Warren crying and hugging himself. He was so vulnerable right now...She felt tears falling down her own cheeks too. „Oh Warren..." she hugged him as tight as she could and cried with him about the lost of his father.

After a long time Warren stopped crying and Max left him alone again but still hold his hand. „You know, that´s why I can understand you´re lost and you´re pain because of Chloe so much. I´ve been through the same...And I..I wanted to help you because back then, nobody was there for me." he said quietly. „Thank you Warren." Max said „Thank you for telling me this but let me tell you one thing: You don´t have to feel guilty because you still hoped you´re father will surviving. It´s just human. And you´re the most kind person I´ve ever met." „Thank you Max.", Warren smiled a bit and said:"Well I think I couldn´t stand this cold house without my father and my crying mother so I came here. And I´ve started studying science. And then I met you. You´re the best thing that ever happened to me Max." Max just smiled and hugged him again. „We should go back to our dorms though, The sun is starting to rise. And...uhm...because of you´re dreams: you can always come to me if you´re having a bad dream Max. I have them too. My Dads in them, telling me I should have been beside him when he died." „I´m so sorry Warren. It´s not you´re fault.", Max cried, starting to cry again. „I know Max, I know. But it´s not you´re fault either with Chloe." Max cried even harder, when she heard Warrens words. He had no idea...But when she felt his arms around her she suddenly realized that it doesn´t matter anymore. She made her choice. She chose Arcadia Bay and that was good. She had an awesome time with Chloe but she decided to rescue all the other people like Kate and Warren. She smiled. „Do you feel better now?" Warren asked shyly. „Actually I do feel better know. I will go back to my dorm to get some sleep and you should do too. I´m glad you told me...I...I wished I could have known you´re father." „Me too, Max. You would have liked him. Actually he loved photographs especially the old school ones." Warren answered smiling. They got up and slowly walked back to Max´s dorm. „Thank you for listening to me. It felt good finally telling it anyone. I mean not just anyone but you. It felt good telling it to Max Caulfield." Warren stuttered, blushing. „I´m glad that I went out for a walk." Max answered and smiled. „I´m kinda invisible around here for the most people, but.." „not for me Warren." Max finished his sentence, smiled again and went into her dorm. Warren looked after her, sighed and also left to his dorm.

Max lied in her bed and thought about the things Warren had said. How could somebody, who was always so happy and supportive, been through something like that? She felt like she had to cry again...But she cried enough. She wanted to do something for him, for Warren. He deserved it. She rolled to the other side of the bed and thought about it. Something, anything...and then she suddenly knew it. Yes that would be awesome. She finally fell asleep with a smile on her face.


End file.
